Entries tagged with: Spires

Detroit's Moonwalks are going on a short US tour this April which begins with two NYC shows. First they play Silent Barn on April 7 with Worthless, Infinity Girl and Painted Zeros ($8 at door); and then they play Mercury Lounge on April 8 with Spires and Uh Bones (tickets). All dates are listed below.

The band recently made a video for their garage-psych single "Sheik" off their 2014 EP. It was directed by Kristin Adamczyk. You can check it out below...

Action Bronson @ Rough Trade
Action Bronson just played two huge Terminal 5 shows in support of his major label debut, Mr. Wonderful, and tonight he's doing something way more intimate. To get in you had to buy his new album and get a wristband at the Rough Trade store starting this past Tuesday. They're out of wristbands, just so you know.

Kool Keith (Lucky Bears Foot) @ Joe's Pub
People throw the term "eccentric" around, but veteran (ultramagnetic) MC is in a different universe, having stayed resolutely weird for the last 25 years. Tonight will be the debut of his new live band, Lucky Bear's Foot.

Jon Spencer Blues Explosion @ Singlecut Brewery
The JSBX released their cracking new album Freedom Tower: No Wave Dance Party 2015 this week and are celebrating by playing shows in every borough. The tour wraps up tonight in Queens and its a free show.

The Get Up Kids, PUP, Restorations @ Paramount
Nineties-era greats The Get Up Kids last reunited in NYC before every '90s emo band you could think of started doing the same thing, and now they're finally back for another round. They don't hit NYC proper, but play their second area show on Long Island tonight. Great openers too: poppy Canadian punks PUP and Philly's heart-on-sleeve rockers Restorations.

Bjork @ City Center
Bjork's in the midst of a sold-out seven-show run in NYC supporting her powerful new album, Vulnicura. She'll be performing with her Vulnicura collaborator Arca, plus percussionist Manu Delago and 15-piece chamber ensemble Alarm Will Sound.

WAND, Babes, Scully @ Baby's All Right
LA band WAND make glammy, heavy rock that's not too far away from what former tourmate Ty Segall does, but they're not afraid to thicken things with vintage analog synths. They're terrific live. This is their first of two NYC shows.

Swearing at Motorists, DTCV @ Elvis Guesthouse
Dayton, OH cult band Swearing at Motorists, aka "The Two-Man-Who," have been making rock for 20-years with frontman Dave Doughman being the band's only constant (apart from being awesome). They play tonight with old pals DTCV that features onetime GbV member Jim Greer.

Horse Feathers, River Whyless @ Bowery Ballroom
Portland folk rockers Horse Feathers celebrated their tenth anniversary as a band last year and released their newest album, So It Is With Us, on Kill Rock Stars. Their current tour is in continued support of that.

The Budos Band, Spires @ Brooklyn Bowl
Where their first three albums trafficked in funky afropop, the Budos Band went heavy (as in almost proto-metal) on last year's Burnt Offering which works a lot more organically than you might think. This is their second of two nights at Brooklyn Bowl.

Lieutenant, Yukon Blonde @ Mercury Lounge
Lieutenant is the new project fronted by Sunny Day Real Estate/Foo Fighters bassist Nate Mendel, and they make enjoyable clean-sounding indie rock. Tonight's their first of two NYC shows on their current tour.

You can browse our full NYC show calendar for all of tonight's shows, but here are some highlights...

Swervedriver, Gateway Drugs @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
Arguably the heaviest, most rocking of the original UK shoegaze acts, Swervedriver returned this year with their first new album since the '90s -- and it's pretty damn good. But expect to hear favorites like "Duel" and "Rave Down," too, at their NYC shows this weekend.

Patti Smith & Jesse Smith @ Le Poisson Rouge
Punk pioneer and NYC icon Patti Smith has been giving a variety of performances lately, and this one's a collaboration with her daughter Jesse for the "Hands On Live" benefit concert, which raises funds for Terakoya, "a new naturopathy clinic/workshop to be built in the upstate Catskill Mountains."

The Get Up Kids, PUP, Restorations @ Stone Pony
Nineties-era greats The Get Up Kids last reunited in NYC before every '90s emo band you could think of started doing the same thing, and now they're finally back for another round. They don't hit NYC proper, but will be in NJ tonight and Long Island tomorrow. Great openers too: poppy Canadian punks PUP and Philly's heart-on-sleeve rockers Restorations.

La Dispute, Title Fight, The Hotelier @ Webster Hall
This is a killer triple bill with two always-progressing co-headliners -- La Dispute whose newest stuff is progressive post-hardcore with a hint of spoken word, and Title Fight who are currently toeing the line between punk and shoegaze. Cathartic emo band The Hotelier open the show. Sold out.

Jon Spencer Blues Explosion @ The Point
The JSBX released their cracking new album Freedom Tower: No Wave Dance Party 2015 this week and are celebrating by playing shows in every borough. Tonight takes them to the Bronx where they'll play a benefit for Hunts Point community center The Point.

Diamond Rugs, New Madrid, Justin Collins @ Bowery Ballroom
This supergroup -- featuring John McCauley & Robbie Cowell of Deer Tick, Ian Saint Pe formerly of Black Lips, T. Hardy Morris of Dead Confederate, Steve Berlin of Los Lobos and Bryan Dufresne of Six Finger Satellite -- released their second album this year and bring their good-time rock n' roll to NYC tonight.

Sannhet, Kayo Dot, Oneirogen @ Saint Vitus
Brooklyn trio Sannhet make crushing instrumental post-metal and their live show (killer light show included) can really overwhelm you if you let it. Tonight's their release show forRevisionist, and it's a great bill all around with Toby Driver's genre-less collective Kayo Dot and one man metal band Oneirogen.

The Budos Band, Spires @ Brooklyn Bowl
Where their first three albums traffiked in funky afropop, the Budos Band went heavy (as in almost proto-metal) on last year's Burnt Offering which works a lot more organically than you might think. This is their first of two Brooklyn Bowl shows.

Ceremony @ Kinfolk 94 (6:45 PM)
Ceremony's upcoming new album has them moving even further away from their powerviolence roots, this time towards something that sounds inspired by Joy Division. They'll be playing songs from that album at this intimate, early show tonight.

Bob's Burger's Live @ Beacon Theater
The entire main cast of FOX's charming animated sitcom are on hand for this event tonight for individual standup segments, a table read of an upcoming episode and an audience Q&A.

Kingston, NY dreampop artist Shana Falana will release her first studio full-length, Set Your Lightning Fire Free, via Team Love on April 7. She made it with drummer/boyfriend Mike Amari and producer Dan Goodwin who's worked with Devo, Kaki King and others. Says Shana:

I've always kept the different sides of my music separate. The ambient ballads, the fuzzed out stuff, they all needed to exist as their own statements. I would have two or three bands at one time: a sludge rock band; a Bulgarian women's choir; a pretty, dreamy organ and guitar duo. This is the first record where I've combined all of that, sometimes in the course of one song.

The first single from the record is "Heavenstay," which tilts ever just so towards goth. You can stream it below.

Shana Falana will head out on tour this weekend and will play Brooklyn's Shea Stadium on April 4 with Spires, Monograms, and Gingerlys. All dates are listed below.

CMJ got underway here in NYC on Tuesday (10/21) and our intrepid photographer Amanda Hatfield was out all day covering the action. She started at Tell All Your Friends' day party at Baby's All Right with sets from local psych-pop band Spires, hotly-tipped UK at MONEY, another UK band Happyness (one of our 20 out-of-town bands to see) and former Walkmen bassist Peter Matthew Bauer.

Doprah @ The Studio at Webster Hall 10/21/2014

Next was was a trip into the city for the annual New Zealand Showcase (now at The Studio @ Webster Hall): Chelsea Jade spent much of her set singing amongst the crowd; Doprah have drawn comparisons to Portishead and The xx which aren't entirely unwarranted.

The #1s @ Union Pool 10/21/2014

Finally it was off to Union Pool for YVNYL's showcase with Irish powerpop band The #1s, Montreal rockers HEAT, the crystalline guitar pop of Chicago's J. Fernandez, and Toronto-based classically trained singer-songwriter Lydia Ainsworth. The latter's set included a string section, though it got off to a late start due to technical difficulties.

Pictures from all bands mentioned here are in this post. More below...

PAWS, Flashlights, Orenda Fink and Amanda X are playing a Flowerbooking CMJ Showcase at Knitting Factory on October 25.Tickets for that show go on sale today at 10 AM. PAWS also play Shea with Solids during CMJ.

Blue Hawaii and Ballet School are playing a PopGun CMJ party at Glasslands on October 24. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

Wampire, CYMBALS, Spires, Dune Rats and Casual Sex are playing a PopGun CMJ party on October 21 at Glasslands. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

Matthew Dear is DJing a CMJ show on October 25 at Verboten with Roman Flügel and Daniel Avery. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

Austin Psych Fest is one of the cooler annual conclaves for headtrip rock n' roll, and they're bringing a bit of that flavor to NYC during CMJ for a showcase at Rough Trade on October 25 with A Place to Bury Strangers, White Fence, Moon Duo, King Gizzard & the Wizard Lizard, Wampire, Bo Ningen, Spires, The Wytches and The Paperhead. It's a 6 PM start with "special guests to be announced." Tickets go on sale Friday (9/19) at noon. Flyer for the show is below.

This is the only current date for A Place To Bury Strangers, though it seems likely that the band will play Death by Audiobefore it closes, seeing how frontman Oliver Ackerman runs the successful Death by Audio pedal company that's housed in the back of the venue (which will be locating to new digs) and if anybody's the DbA house band, it's APTBS.

Nashville's The Paperhead, meanwhile, just announced they'll be releasing Africa Avenue this fall via Trouble in Mind, their first new music in two years. Bo Ningen will be at CMJ following their tour with Kasabian. White Fence and King Gizzard have other CMJ shows together too.

Moon Duo also play with The Horrors at Stage 48 on October 21 (tickets), though most of their tour together was postponed, and then they'll play with The Kills at Bowery Ballroom on 10/23 (sold out but you can try to get in with a CMJ badge if you're gonna have one).

River Rocks wrapped up its 2014 season with UK band Temples, whose chiming brand of '60s poppy psych and '70s glam hairstyles brought the biggest crowds to Pier 84 this year. Their 10-song set hit most of the highlights from their debut album, Sun Structures, plus a couple non-LP tracks as well. Opening were Here We Go Magic, and brothers-in-vibe Spires (who played with Temples at Union Pool last year). Another lovely evening, with an especially picaresque sunset, on the Hudson. Pictures from the evening and Temples' setlist are in this post.

Temples' tour stays in the NY-area this weekend, playing again with Spires tonight (8/8) at Asbury Lanes, and then hitting the Surf Lodge in Montauk on Saturday (8/9) which is free. They'll then be back in October, on tour with The Districts. More pics from the River Rocks show below...

UPDATE: The McKibbin Loft vacate notices mentioned below have now caused The Deli 10th Anniversary party to move to Brooklyn Fireproof. Details TBA.

The Deli Mag has been chronicling the local scene (in NYC and other cities) and talking recording gear for 10 years, and they're celebrating a decade in print with a few parties. with Higher Animals, EULA, Melody Joy, Deathrow Tull, The Pluto Moons, Paxico Records, Joya Bravo, and Rue Brown, with a special Brooklyn Wildlife set featuring Ohene Cornelius, Johnny Voltik, Tyquan Sounds, Stonehenge Parnhashnakovsky and more. Also playing, legendary junglist DJ Soul Slinger, plus a BBQ, tattoo artists and more. The party starts at 4 PM and the flyer is below. As mentioned above, this was originally supposed to be at McKibbin Lofts but is now happening at Brooklyn Fireproof. Stay tuned for details.

Then next weekend The Deli will take over Brooklyn Night Bazaar. The Friday, August 1 show is with Drowners, Spires, Mainland, The Can't Tells, and Little Racer. The Saturday, August 2 show is with Diane Birch, Secret Someones, 5J Barrow, The Prettiots and Poor Remy. Those shows, like most at BK Bazaar, are free and open to the public. You can also RSVP to skip the line.

And in related news, Gothamist reports that a few of the tenants living in McKibbin Lofts basement spaces have been ordered to vacate with a notice saying "the Department of Buildings has determined that conditions in this premises are immediately perilous to life." Lit Lounge is due to open its Bushwick location in McKibbin this fall.

The multifarious Ian North (singer, guitarist, synthesist, producer and songwriter) was the leader of Long Island's finest contribution to wimp rock, Milk 'n' Cookies, who were playing dingy New York bars in their cute baseball uniforms when a visiting tycoon took them to England in hopes of making them a hit machine in the Anglo-pop sweepstakes. The band's sole LP -- recorded in 1975 but released two years later -- is full of catchy melodies, twee lyrics and energetic fizz-pop guitar hooks. Awfully early for the power pop revival, it never was very popular; however, fans of bands like Shoes and Sparks might appreciate its preciously naïve charms. - [Trouser Press]

Not to be confused with Chicago's "ice devouring sex tornados" of the same name, shortlived mid-'70s Long Island band Milk 'n' Cookies are having a bit of a resurgence. The band's nasally powerpop sound can be seen as a blueprint for the kind of music that is Burger Records' bread and butter, and Captured Tracks repressed Milk n' Cookies' single "Not Enough Girls in the World" this year for Record Store Day. There are more reissues on the way, as C/T has a full-length release planned for November (perhaps a reissue of the band's sole album, which is on C/T's store page but currently just links to the LP's Discogs page). You can listen to a few Milk 'n' Cookies songs below.

Milk 'n' Cookies are also back in action. They play the Burger Boogaloo in Oakland, CA over Independence Day Weekend. Right before that, they'll play a warm-up gig in NYC at Baby's All Right on July 3 with Spires and more TBA. Tickets are on sale now.

As we just posted, Scottish duo Honeyblood and Saint Richwere added to Teenage Fanclub's River Rocks show on July 24. (This will be TFC's first NYC show in four years.) That's not the only update to the line-ups of the three free River Rocks shows they're doing at Hudson River Park's Pier 84 this summer.

The August 7 show with Temples now has Here We Go Magic and Spires on the bill as well. River Rocks' 2014 kickoff show is July 10 with Wild Beasts and Mutual Benefit. If you show up early that night -- pardon the self-promotion -- I'll be DJing from 6 PM till Mutual Benefit start (around 8 PM).

All River Rocks shows are free, all-ages and open to the public, with gates opening at 6 PM for each one.

Speaking of free Here We Go Magic shows on a Pier, they're playing TONIGHT (5/14) at Pier 2 in Brooklyn Bridge Park with Gospels and Porcelain Raft. It's the official pre-party for New York Road Runner Five-Borough Series: Brooklyn Half Marathon which happens on Saturday (5/17). Show tonight starts at 8 PM.

With a new album and an impending appearance at this weekend's Austin Psych Fest, UK band The Horrors stopped in NYC last night (4/29) to play a free show at House of Vans. Cold, rainy anorak weather and the venue's warehouse space made for a good setting for The Horrors' widescreen, if gloomy, rock. As the new Luminious isn't out till next week (5/6), the band opened with a few older songs: "Mirror's Image" and "Scarlett Fields" from 2009's Primary Colours, and "I Can See Through You" from 2011's Skying in between.

The Horrors' 10-song set only hit on three of Luminous' tracks: the lovely "I See You," plus the Madchester-funky "In and Out of Sight" and current, Chameleons-esque single "So Now You Know." I wish they'd played a couple more, especially "Change Your Mind," the closest the band has ever come to a ballad and maybe the best song on the album. HoV's boomy acoustics work well with the band's spacey sound which is miles away from their gothpunk days of "Sheena is a Parasite" (they didn't play anything from their first album). Despite using cool old fashioned film loop projections, The Horrors are not the most engaging band to watch, but if your goal is to close your eyes and bliss out, they sounded pretty good.

Opening the night were locals Spires who have gone under some renovations in the past couple months, changing drummers, second guitar and adding a third who also played keyboard. They're still making jangly psych-pop, but sound a little less overtly '60s retro (though perhaps more '80s "Paisley Underground" retro). In between sets, Darkside's Dave Harrington kept things hopping on the decks.

Pictures of the whole evening and Horrors' setlist are in this post. More below...

A Place to Bury Strangers are putting the finishing touches on their fourth album which should be out late summer / early fall 2014. If you'd like to hear the album before that, the band are going to be testing out new songs from the LP at Brooklyn's The Wick on May 15. Spires (who open for The Horrors tonight) and APTBS' DbA buddies Grooms are opening. Tickets are on sale now. Show flyer below.

Before that, A Place to Bury Strangers will play the kickoff party for the Psycho de Mayo Festival which happens at Santa Ana, CA's The Observatory Constellation Room on May 10 with Gnod and Cold Showers. They'll then be DJs at the actual Psycho de Mayo Fest which also happens at the Observatory (same locale as Burgerama III) on May 11 and features Pentagram, Suuns, Saint Vitus, Prince Rama, Dead Moon and more. Full lineup and Psycho de Mayo flyer below...

The Horrors have a new album, Luminous, out May 6 and will be visiting North America for Austin Psych Fest next weekend. On their way there, The Horrors will play Brooklyn's House of Vans on April 29 with openers Spires. The show is free but you must RSVP to RSVPTOVANS@gmail.com with "Classic & Brooklyn" in the subject line.

The Horrors will also play Los Angeles before Psych Fest. All dates are listed, along with the video for "So Now You Know," below...

The insanity that is SXSW is about to uproot folks from around the globe, sending them to Austin for a week to see 628 bands. While there will be great music from all around the world there, we thought, being a NYC-based website, we'd highlight ten artists from our hometown we think you should check out if you'll be there. You can listen to two tracks each from each band (who's on RDIO) in our RDIO playlist, and browse the list below.

As discussed, Georgia's Savannah Stopover festival, which happens right before SXSW, is returning this year from March 6-8, and since we last spoke, the full lineup was announced. New additions include Kylesa, Wye Oak, Future Islands, Eternal Summers, Heavenly Beat, Nothing, Esben & the Witch, Spires, TEEN, Connections and many more joining previously announced names like Weekend, Speedy Ortiz, Public Service Broadcasting, Ex Hex, and more. Tickets, including 3-day pass, 2-day pass, and single day pass options, are available.

Allah-Las are releasing a new, limited edition 7" via Innovative Leisure this week (1/14) -- it's more of their catchy, '60s-style 12-string jangle and you can stream the A-side, "Had it All," below. The vinyl already sold-out on pre-order but you can get it digitally via iTunes.

All you could see was hair. Like true shoegazers, UK band TOY stayed hunched over their instruments for most of last night's Glasslands set (2/9) with frontman Tom Dougall coming up for air occasionally for vocal duty. Mostly though they vibrated on the same harmonic frequency, hammering at their instruments on a motorik groove.

This was TOY's first New York show, though they'd tried to come twicepreviously only to be felled by visa issues. It was worth the wait. They were genuinely terrific from opening salvo "Left Myself Behind" through to the uber-krauty title track of their new album Join the Dots which closed the night. If you have any kind of proclivity for this sort of thing (anywhere from Swervedriver to The Horrors) they are definitely worth seeing.

NYC gets another chance tonight (1/10) at Mercury Lounge, it's a late show (doors 10:30) with likeminded locals Spires on first. Tickets are still available, but apparently not many left. The band will then play a handful of other North American shows, and then will be back over in May for Austin Psych Fest. All dates are listed below.

Before TOY were Austin's Feathers who are stopping in NYC for a couple shows before jetting to Europe for a few dates opening for Depeche Mode. The band, sporting a new line-up backing creative head Anastasia Dimou, looked the part and have some catchy songs in the black-clad synthy vein but the band was a little green and it showed -- but the harmonies were on.

The night started with local band Young Boys. On record they're in the gloomy, martial-beat school of post-punk; live their Cramps/Birthday Party side comes out. Shambolic to say the least, but platinum blond frontman is a rabble-rouser and natural frontman.

Pics of Feathers and Young Boys' Glasslands sets, plus more of TOY, below..

MGMT, Dinosaur Jr., Kuroma @ Barclays Center
MGMT have gone from indie pop stars to weird psych explorers to even weirder psych explorers, and while their more recent material has tons of value (Congratulations is my personal favorite of their records, for what it's worth), it's definitely the strength of those earlier singles that has allowed them to play a venue as big as Barclays Center. So you can probably count on tons of fans wondering what the hell is going on in between "Time to Pretend" and "Kids." Also, the legendary Dinosaur Jr. opens this show, so if you're going, be sure to show up on time for them.

Factory Floor, Cities Aviv, Yvette @ 285 Kent Avenue
After four years of teasing us with singles and EPs, UK trio Factory Floor finally released their self-titled debut album this year. Like their other work, it's rooted in Detroit techno and acid, but with a stark, post-punk outlook. Live, don't expect an exact representation of the album -- the band rip up their songs live, with live drums and electronics played on the fly. Tonight's show is pretty solid with Cities Aviv and Yvette on the bill too. Sold out, but a few tickets will be available at the door if you get there early.

Run The Jewels, White Mandingos, Phony PPL @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
One of the most flat-out fun and totally raw rap albums of the year was Run The Jewels, the collaborative project of El-P and Killer Mike, both fresh off two killer 2012 solo albums (Killer Mike's was produced by El-P). Their live shows are just as fun, and they comprise material off all three of those albums and more. They just played Webster Hall, so in the smaller Music Hall of Williamsburg, this should be a blast.

Mutoid Man, Manalive, Summoner @ Saint Vitus Bar
The the epic Cave In and the insane Converge are both incredible bands, and Mutoid Man puts the singer of the former with the drummer of the latter. Together, they manage to keep some of the epicness, some of the insanity, and they give it a huge dose of party rock for great results. They rip.

!!!, Holy Fuck @ Webster Hall
Now based all over the globe, dancepunk group !!! made their best record in ages with this year's Thr!!!er. They're always fun live, and Canadians Holy Fuck should get the party started right.

NGUZUNGUZU, L-Vis 1990, secret guest @ Glasslands
Nguzunguzu have lent their production to Kelela, Le1f, and others, and they make some pretty cool stuff on their own too. Catch them tonight with Night Slugs label boss L-Vis 1990 and a "secret guest."

Pizza Underground @ Baby's All Right
When it comes to pizza-themed rock bands, prefer Personal & the Pizzas, but there's no denying the gawker appeal of this Velvet Underground tribute act who change all the lyrics to be about pizza, featuring Home Alone's Macauley Culkin. This show is early (7PM), free and there will be free pizza. Free pizza!

Yo La Tengo @ The Bell House
One of the many sad things about Maxwell's closing this year was that Yo La Tengo's annual Hannukah shows would no longer be happening. It's not quite the same but their four sold-out holiday shows at The Bell House will hopefully have some of the same spirit and surprises. This is night one.

Alarms and Controls, Life Size Maps, Poor Lily @ Cake Shop
The Dischord-signed Alarms and Controls includes members of '90s-era Dischord bands Circus Lupus, The Crownhate Ruin, and others, and if you like those bands, the overall '90s Dischord sound, or The Dismemberment Plan, you'll likely dig Alarms and Controls too.

Pompeya, Loveskills, Leverage Models @ Cameo Gallery
If you love Big '80s music like The Associates, Blue Nile, ABC, and (early) Spandau Ballet, you will probably dig the widescreen sounds of Leverage Models who have a firm grasp on that, right down to the saxaphone and syn-toms.

A John Waters Christmas @ Stage 48
The director and kitsch connoisseur will be sharing "some of his favorite holiday traditions, from his compulsive desire to give and receive perverted gifts to his religious fanaticism for Santa Claus and an unhealthy love of real-life holiday horror stories."

Spires @ The Standard, East Village
Spires will be debuting their new line-up tonight at this early show at East Village branch of The Standard hotel chain. The show is free but you need to RSVP by emailing aohayon@standardhotel.com.

Alt-J @ The Studio at Webster Hall
You had to enter SiriusXM's contest to get into this show, but if you did that you'll get a chance to see this now-pretty-famous band in the intimate Studio at Webster Hall.

Juelz Santana @ BB King's
Diplomats member Juelz Santana has a pretty notable solo career too, and apparently he's working on his first solo album since 2005. Maybe we'll hear some new songs tonight?

Videology's 10th Anniversary Party
Williamsburg's videostore-turned-bar/screening-room/videstore turns 10 years old today. There's a host of special programming in store, plus BV's Bill Pearis will be DJing starting at 11 PM. There's also half-price drinks all night, but you must RSVP to attend.

Spires played a lot of shows during CMJ. Maybe not as many as Joanna Gruesome, but close. And when they weren't playing, they were out and about. It felt like wherever I went that week, there was usually at least one member of Spires there, just hanging out. One of those shows was opening our Saturday party at Baby's All Right where they brought a lot of energy to the tough noon slot. We already posted one set of pictures from their set, and we've now got a second in this post.

Spires released their debut single a couple weeks back and have just put forth the video for its very catchy A-side, "Candyflip," a pretty straightforward performance clip of the band superimposed with crashing waves. You can watch it below.

Meanwhile, Spires play tonight (11/8) at Bowery Ballroom with Pure Bathing Culture and headliners Widowspeak. Tickets are still available. The band have a few other shows lined up too: opening for UK band Temples at Union Pool on November 26 (tickets); opening for the Allah-Las at Rough Trade NYC on December 6 (tickets); and playing a free Brooklyn Night Bazaar on December 7 show with Au Revoir Simone, Splashh, and Grooms.

Dates are listed, plus the music video and more pics from their BV CMJ party performance, below...

On October 17, 2013, Insound and Just Managing hosted their annual CMJ Recording Lounge at Mission Sound in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Eight bands were recorded in eight hours in whirlwind sessions helmed by Grammy winning engineer Matt Shane (Flight of the Conchords) and Hector Castillo (David Bowie, Bjork). It that short span of time, they got two tracks recorded each from Au Revoir Simone, Jacco Gardner, Ghost Wave, Tweens, Doug Keith, John Murry, Dream Shake and Ski Lodge. You can check out Au Revoir Simone's "Just Like a Tree" and Jacco Gardner's "Chameleon" and photos from those sessions in this post, and you can download all 16 songs for free over at Insound.

In addition to their upcoming Kidrockers show at Brooklyn Bowl on November 17 (tickets), Au Revoir Simone are also playing a free show at Brooklyn Night Bazaar on December 7 with Spires, Grooms and UK band Splashh who will be performing as a duo for this show. Splashh also play the Bazaar the night before (12/6) with TEEN, Forest Fire and Valleys. They're flying over just for these shows which are being presented by Kanine Records. All BK Night Bazaar shows are free.

Check out Jacco Gardner and Au Revoir Simone streams, and more pics from their sessions, below...

Then things eased their way back in a lighter direction, with alt-folk singer Torres -- playing as a duo rather than a four-piece -- who continues to get grungier and more intense each time. We were worried that the transition from the metal of Pallbearer to Torres would be a disaster, but it was just the opposite and both bands played to a full room, even if the faces were not all the same.

Then came one of the most fun sets of the day (if we do say so ourselves) from Hop Along, who had fans packing in towards the front of the venue and singing along for much of their set. Hop Along gave the love right back and didn't hide their excitement that they were getting to open for Superchunk frontman Mac McCaughanandMary Timony's new band Ex Hex. More about both of those special sets HERE.

After Ex Hex, the late-night portion of the show (we were only initially going until 10 PM) began with a set from Amsterdam's Jacco Gardner, who like Spires ten hours earlier, sound a lot like late '60s psych/baroque pop. Then came NYC's good lookin' rockers Drowners, followed by another big winner of this year's CMJ, Joanna Gruesome. The UK band only recently formed, banged out a debut LP mixing twee pop and punk called Weird Sister, and seriously honed their live show, which was one not to miss. A lot of folks who had clearly been at Arcade Fire earlier in the night (a lot of tuxes, a lot of animal masks) made it over for JG's set. The band didn't let amp issues or it being their last of a zillion CMJ shows slow them down, and their set ended with three of the five members in the crowd.

Finally, our epic-length party ended on a highly eccentric note, with a post-1AM set from UK duo Public Service Broadcasting who mix krauty dancerock with samples from '70s and '80s educational films. While they were lacking the projections they normally play with, they were still quite entertaining -- they addressed the crowd purely with dialogue samples -- and their tight set featured the only banjo of the night. After it all, somewhow we we were still standing.

Thanks again to Sailor Jerry and to Raw Revolution for supplying the free organic live food bars that scattered around the venue. Thanks to Vinny's Music, who provided backline equipment for the artists, to Baby's All Right for being so accomodating and for getting the doors open on time, to all the bands who played and to everyone that stopped by.

Thursday morning we still didn't even know if new Williamsburg venue Baby's All Right would be allowed to open. One day later, we hosted what ended up being the venue's first show ever for six hours straight on Friday afternoon. We then returned the next morning for an all-day Saturday CMJ party that went from noon til just after 2 AM. Pictures, videos and a recap of that 14 hour 10/19 BrooklynVegan show are in this post.

We kicked things Saturday off with local band Spires, who may be a newish band from Brooklyn but sound more like one from the UK in the late '60s, followed by the shoegazey emo of Pity Sex, who balanced whispered vocals and atmospheric guitars on either side of the stage with their driving rhythm section in the middle. Before their set, at least one member of Pity Sex got some new art on his body in our pop up Three Kings Tattoo shop courtesy of Sailor Jerry who also supplied the free rum we started serving right at noon.

Next up was Australian singer/songwriter Courtney Barnett, one of the big winners of this year's CMJ, who just released The Double EP: A Sea Of Split Peas, a collection of witty lyrics and Summer of Love psych pop. The songs are excellent, and she's got a nice stage presence with a funny attitude and some killer guitar freakouts. She offered a free CD to anyone who got a tattoo of her name.

After Courtney was Yuck, who were playing their first U.S. shows since singer Daniel Blumberg left the band. He wasn't really missed, as the rest of the band traded off vocals on the first album's songs and their new material seemed to go over equally well. (They also gave us their cover of New Order's "Age of Consent.) It was a packed -- and sweaty -- house with a very enthusiastic crowd. Great set.

Then we changed gears for goth/country singer King Dude (playing as a trio), who were a bit more rockin' than they are on record, which made for a good transition into Nothing, who have been tagged as shoegaze, are signed to a metal label but really just came off as a heavy rock band not tied to any specific subgenre (catch them, complete with a new tattoo they also got at the show, at 285 Kent on 10/29).